Snowmobiles can go places where your feet can't

WINTER FUN

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, February 24, 2011

Photo: Tom Stienstra

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Bernd Schwarzer rounds the bend on a snowmobile in deep powder on the north flank of Mount Shasta last Sunday in deep forest 14 miles from the trailhead and staging area at the Deer Mountain Snowmobile Park.

Bernd Schwarzer rounds the bend on a snowmobile in deep powder on the north flank of Mount Shasta last Sunday in deep forest 14 miles from the trailhead and staging area at the Deer Mountain Snowmobile Park.

Photo: Tom Stienstra

Snowmobiles can go places where your feet can't

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(Siskiyou County) - Snowflakes cascaded from a crisp, dark morning sky. As we powered up our engines, I felt a nervous jolt for what the day might bring: thrills, a little danger and a vast unknown.

A nudge at the accelerator rocketed the snowmobiles forward like we were burning holes through the falling snow. We powered up a grade, sailed around a corner and glided to a stop at a towering overlook across a wilderness valley buried in deep powder.

"Fantastic view," said Bernd (pronounced Bear-und) Schwarzer, off to my left. "You realize how far out we are? There's nobody out there for miles and miles."

Becoming popular

Like many who first tried snowmobiling out of curiosity, Schwarzer is now hooked by the challenges and rewards.

Snowmobiling, long a niche activity, has become a hit winter sport as more locations offer rentals and tours across mountain country in national forest.

No special license is required to rent a snowmobile at a number of locations at Tahoe, the central Sierra, Shasta and Eastern Sierra. Most rental shops require operators be 21 and with a driver's license to rent a snowmobile, and to be at least 18 and licensed to drive one.

Rental cost typically ranges from $65 to $100 for an hour, $150 to $200 for three hours, with specials for longer trips, all-day or overnight adventures. Most outfits provide helmets.

The throttle of a snowmobile is a spring-loaded lever that you press with your right palm or thumb. At that moment, the clutch engages and you propel forward with the euphoria of speed combined with the rises, falls and curves of your route as you head into deep forest.

"The first time I went, I had no idea what I was doing, I just wanted to see what it was like," Schwarzer said. "Man, was I excited. Away you go. Then you get the feel of the machine. You just want to keep going, explore, and get way out there."

Deer Mountain Snowmobile Park on the north flank of Mount Shasta was the launch point for my indoctrination. Rentals, which include helmets and a 20-minute instructional, are available at a staging area.

Most rental services across California are set up so you drive your snowmobile on groomed snow-covered logging roads to view points or picnic sites. These roads are set deep in national forest and are routed up sub-ridges, contour along slopes and then plunge into valleys and climb again.

Powerful machines

Advanced riders can venture onto spurs or across steep-sloped forests, sometimes trying to plow through deep powder without getting stuck, always a hazard off the main routes.

The sensation is like driving a motorcycle (seating position), yet feels like a high-powered three-wheeled ATV (you counter steer and throw your weight to the far side on angled turns), and an airplane (where you power your way through the rough stuff).

Yet the burst speed of a snowmobile can be amazing. Compared with a motorcycle, where the typical Harley-Davidson engine is rated at about 75 to 80 horsepower, the snowmobiles we used were more than double that, 160 and 175 horsepower. "You never run out of throttle," Schwarzer said.

The biggest mistake newcomers make is losing speed in soft, deep powder snow and getting stuck. That happens most often on the edge of a tree well, which is often filled with powder, sometimes 5 to 8 feet deep. Or you drive up a slope into deep powder and lose speed. The rubber-grated track becomes like a conveyor belt that turns into an excavator. As you increase RPMs too late, you excavate snow beneath the rear of the machine and can bury yourself 5 feet deep in seconds. On our trip Sunday, we dug out three other snowmobiles that became stuck like this.

"Everybody gets stuck," Schwarzer said. "It happens so fast. You get in the powder, lose your speed, try to accelerate, and the next thing you know, you're buried."

To keep safe, never go alone, of course, and if possible, go in groups of three or four.

"The other day, we found a guy out on a spur, by himself, totally buried, late in the day, about 10 miles in," Schwarzer said. "He was never going to get out without help. After we dug (his snowmobile) out, he was so hypothermic that he fell off the seat. Then on the way back with our group, he took a wrong turn, couldn't remember the way, even though he insisted he was right, and we had to go get him."

Rules of the road

To make it safer riding in groups, when you encounter riders coming up from the other direction, always stay to the far right, stop or slow to a walk, and hand signal how many riders are in your group behind you. A fist, for instance, means none: all clear.

On our trip, we rode out 14 miles, over a ridge and down to a big valley. Here we tore around in the powder, getting a feel of the riding characteristics. As we did so, blue sky appeared and the summit of Mount Shasta rose above us.

"I understand a lot of people do not like snowmobiles," Schwarzer said. He gets that they don't like that it's a machine, makes noise and goes fast, "and that's OK with me. We do our sport far away from other people. We don't want to bother anybody."

But Schwarzer said he'd bet anybody who got on one like he did, curious and fascinated, would find it difficult not to get hooked.

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